Old church - need advice

[TrpnBils]

So I'm trying to get back into the hobby. My track record is not great...I've only ever found a few wheat pennies and no silver. I really want to get a silver this summer...

I've found an old church, no longer in use. I can't find any info on it, but it's built on a stone foundation and the adjacent cemetery has stones from as early as the late 1700s. I have an Ace 250 and I went looking around the church and the fringes of the cemetery (I know some people will hunt in them, but I couldn't do it) and found four things other than the occasional piece of rusty metal: an old shovel head, an old axe head, a shell casing, and a 1990's dime.

With all that history there, I'm not doubting that it's been hunted before, although it's pretty rural...but there HAS to be something there still. I'm just not sure where or how to go about looking for it because I definitely feel that my technique is what's keeping me from finding anything decent. Aside from the church and cemetery, there's a small outhouse over to one side and that's about it. It's surrounded by woods on two sides and two dirt roads on the others.

Any suggestions?

 

[bazinga]

Machine upgrade will upgrade your chances at finding silver. You have a clad hunting machine.



And now, the Ace 250 guys will come in here and yell at me.

 

[TORRERO]

I will be honest with you...
in the yard you are probably wasting your time...
So many people have probably already been there,
If your finding nothing, and I mean nothing.... no pull tabs or old screw cap lids, or alumanum foil
or a lot more shell casings...
then its been scrounged.... probably by me
I used to have a County Map of North & South Carolina and every church ever built was shown
and I just followed the map... and if I found something I stayed until I did not find anything else...
(that was 10 years ago)

But for your advice...
Go into the woods, and dig the good signals...
hunt the dirt roads around there, along the woodline, or along the fenceline as far from the building as you can get and still see the church...
you never know where anyone was 300 years ago..
Good luck and keep us posted...

 

[Hawkeye P]

As TORRERO mentioned, if you're finding anything metal, the site isn't "hunted out." If the previous guy missed that "junk," imagine what else he might've left behind.

Try figuring out the pathways people used - not necessarily sidewalks, although the edges of sidewalks can be great. The path between the church and the outhouse has probably seen a lot of traffic over the years. Check the path between the church and cemetery, again, anywhere that people have walked, they have dropped something.

I don't know about your machine, but I'd advise you do dig just about any signal you come across. Don't ignore something because it doesn't scream "dig me." The more you dig, the more you'll find, trash and goodies both.

 

[warsawdaddy]

Make sure your coil isn't too far above the ground.Go slow.

 

[TORRERO]

I will tell you about an old church I hunted maybe 20 years ago, back then it was not in service
but obviously dated very old. There was a newer fence around most of the property with a gate so
cars could come and go. The gate was always open and it was just a regular yard fence...
I dug inside the fence as best I could digging several wheats and 2-3 Indian heads if I remember
correctly, then in front of the Church I got a "Pulltab" "Zinc" level signal, thinking it was junk
I dug this, and out popped a Seated Liberty half dime... I was ecstatic...
Then I realized that there was a space outside the fence that they kept the grass cut, an open area
to the treeline that was not fenced, at the time I figured just state property that some local kept up..
but when the signals around the Church dried up I said... Hhmmm Maybe outside the fence
It's not that old and surely was not here when the place was built...
Outside the fence in the middle of the grassy area I got a strong "Dime" signal at 2 - 3 inches and I
figured it must be new money... 2 inches ??
Dug down and out rolled the best seated liberty dime I have ever found...
so then I hunted along the treeline, inside and outside the fence, and along the treeline 50 yards
from the church... another seated dime... this one in deplorable shape worn smooth..
I never really hunted the woods... HHmmm maybe I should go back ...

 

[TORRERO]

Another church me a buddy stopped at, I was hunting the yard and him being a relic man said
he wanted to hunt the woods behind the church...
There was a trench full of water between the church and the woods so I told him go ahead..
He figure a way around it, and was off...
I ended up digging an Indian head penny in the yard and some wheats, but nothing more..
I then went back into the woods (some pines) where he was... and while I am walking
around he got a signal and called me over to check it...
My Whites DFX said it was a quarter... and I'm figuring can't be a quarter out here in these woods..
but sure enough he proceded to dig a Barber quarter 1907.... Oh was I pissed.....
then he took another step and got another signal and would you believe...
Another quarter...... this one an 1898 Barber... Both in prestine condition...
So never overlook those woods behind those ancient churches... Never know who was back there doing what...